1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of computer graphics and, more particularly, to a high performance graphics system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist high performance graphics systems that perform super-sampling. For every pixel seen on the screen, more than one sample is generated and stored in memory. Prior to display on screen, a set of samples is convolved (or filtered) to produce a single color for a corresponding pixel. Filtering may be performed using a variety of methods, but typically involves generating a weighted average of a set of samples that are within a defined region of sample space called a kernel that is centered on a pixel location. In high performance graphics systems this set of samples may be distributed among a plurality of memory chips. To generate a single pixel, a convolution chip may need to retrieve samples from a plurality (or possibly all) of the memory chips. A large cross-bar routing network is utilized to achieve the sample data routing. This routing network utilizes significant board area, is difficult to layout, and scales geometrically when additional resources are added.